British women qualify for Modern Pentathlon World Cup final

Great Britain will field the full complement of women at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in London (9-10 July) after Mhairi Spence, Freyja Prentice and Heather Fell all secured places.

Qualification for the final, which takes place at Crystal Palace and Greenwich Park, is based on World Cup standings.

The British trio all finished in the top five. The final, which is the Olympic test event, provides the first chance for athletes to qualify for London 2012, though just one spot is available.

Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “I expected us to qualify three women given the depth of the British team. They now need to stay healthy and get ready to compete. It would be fantastic if one of them could win and qualify for the Games, but the top athletes in the world will be competing so nothing is set in stone.”

Twenty-five-year-old Mhairi Spence finished second in the World Cup standings and is looking forward to the event.

“It will be hard to qualify for the Olympics, but it’s an opportunity,” she said. “It’s also an opportunity to practise competing in front of a home crowd.”

A maximum of two athletes per gender per country can compete in modern pentathlon at London 2012. The British Olympic Association will select the GB team.

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